This was a really big week for news – but few seemed to show up at the party!

Where did all the people go?

In the most tumultuous week of the Trump presidency as two former associates were in court, both were convicted of an array of charges having nothing to do with Trump in the case of Manafort, and very little to do with Trump in the case of Cohen and his plea bargain, all media guns were trained on bringing about the demise of Trump through impeachment.

With that kind of action, one might have expected the largest TV audiences and ratings of the Trump presidency.  Well, if you add the network prime time numbers with the cable average viewing numbers for all the stations making the Nielsen weekly report press release, a total of 28.8 million viewers had their globes glued to the screen on average each day.

So, Nielsen also says there are 304 million potential viewers over two years of age, which seems about the right starting age for the quality of television viewing content.  That means, hummm, barely NINE PERCENT of the potential American viewers watched the network and cable telly each day.

I am not sure but that could be about the fewest TV viewers since 1953 (sixty-five years ago) when there were about twenty-seven million TVs in use.  Wake up media, because the good news is very bad for you.  The good news is 275 million Americans have better things to do than watch television.  Perhaps this is the clearest sign yet that Americans are fed up with television news content and television show content.

I, for one, am quite pleased with the American boycott of non-essential news and generally stupid programming, not to mention the saturation of advertisements, served up by the broadcast media.  One can only hope the aversion of Americans to advertising saturation will slow down the spiraling increase in the digital addiction of our younger generations.

    

Facts:

According to Nielsen's National Television Household Universe Estimates, there are 119.6 million TV homes in the U.S. for the 2017-18 TV season. The number of persons age 2 and older in U.S. TV Households is estimated to be 304.5 million, which represents a 0.9% increase from last year.  Aug 25, 2017.

Here are the latest Nielsen ratings.

By David Bauder - Associated Press - Tuesday, August 28, 2018

NEW YORK — If it’s a lousy week for President Donald Trump, it’s usually a good week for Rachel Maddow.

MSNBC’s marquee personality took advantage of a busy week of bad news for the president, led by former lawyer Michael Cohen’s plea deal and former campaign manager Paul Manafort’s conviction on corruption charges.

She had the top-rated show on cable television on Tuesday with 3.89 million viewers. Maddow beat the usual cable ratings leader, Fox News Channel’s Sean Hannity, for the week.

Fox News Channel led the cable networks with an average of 2.26 million viewers, taking advantage of its weekend strength. MSNBC had 2.12 million, USA had 1.42 million, HGTV had 1.39 million and CNN had 1.27 million.

Behind its summer juggernaut “America’s Got Talent,” now being shown on two nights, NBC won the week in prime-time with an average of 4.9 million viewers. CBS had 4 million viewers, ABC had 3.6 million, Fox had 2.6 million, ION Television had 1.4 million, Univision and Telemundo were tied with 1.21 million and the CW had 770,000.

ABC’s “World News Tonight” topped the evening newscasts with an average of 8 million viewers. The “NBC Nightly News” had 7.4 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 5.7 million.

For the week of Aug. 20-26, the top 10 shows, their networks and viewership:

1. “America’s Got Talent” (Tuesday), NBC, 11.21 million;
2. “America’s Got Talent” (Wednesday), NBC, 9.7 million;
3. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 7.38 million;
4. NFL Exhibition Game: Arizona at Dallas, NBC, 7.17 million;
5. NFL Exhibition Game: Philadelphia at Cleveland,” Fox, 6.5 million;
6. “Celebrity Family Feud,” ABC, 6.31 million;
7. “NFL Pre-Game Show,” NBC, 6.12 million;
8. “The Big Bang Theory,” CBS, 5.83 million;
9. “Big Brother” (Wednesday), CBS, 5.72 million;
10. “Big Brother” (Sunday), CBS, 5.67 million.

A Message to Distressed Roman Catholics and People of all Faiths

What to do about the crisis in the 
Roman Catholic Church

The Roman Catholic Church is the largest religious denomination in the world with over 1.5 billion members.  Never in the history of the Church since the time of Jesus over 2000 years ago has the plague of scandal from within threatened the very existence of the Catholic Church.

Ever since the recent revelations regarding sexual abuse within the Church the news media, many of whom have consistently demonstrated a bias against God, Jesus, the Catholic Church, and Christianity in general, have been feasting on the controversy.

In fact, after two years of incessant bashing of candidate for president, then President Trump, the media have honed their skills at fanning the fires of fear, hatred and bigotry.  Sad to say they have grown quite proficient at it.

The Pennsylvania Grand Jury report is a perfect example.  St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican was rocked to the foundations with the revelations currently in the news.  It only took a couple of days for former Vatican officials and ambassadors to be discovered by the media who started demanding the current Pope Francis resign.

Almost lost in the media feeding frenzy was the fact there have been no instances of abuse since 2002, sixteen years by my count.  Add to that many of the breaking news cases were identified long ago, and some dated back from eighteen to seventy years ago.

Make no mistake, the nature of the abuse is sick, evil and intolerable.  Even Pope Francis says those guilty of the deeds or guilty of covering up the deeds should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and guilty parties must face the most severe punishment possible.

What most news stories fail to mention is that the State of Pennsylvania criminal code has a statute of limitations extending twelve years and all recent cases discussed are way beyond the statute.  In other words, nothing can be done in either criminal or civil courts to punish the offenders who have ruined so many young lives.  The statute of limitations has expired.

Simply stated, it was never the intent of the news blitz to prosecute criminals, it was an attempt to discredit the institution of Christianity in general, a nefarious movement that has been underway for decades.

So, what can the Catholics do who are absorbing the shame and fear of the media campaign against all religions?

Well, perhaps they should listen to the words of the founder of Christianity, Jesus.  Whenever one has a crisis of faith, they have already ignored the sacred teachings of Jesus.  Faith, first and foremost, is the goodness of the Father and the teaching of His Son Jesus.

Faith that the miraculous creation of Father Creator, meaning our world, our Sun and Moon, our galaxy, our cosmos and even ourselves and our souls reflect the perfect love of the Father for all his Creations, including us, all of us.

As for organized or institutionalized religion, that was never part of the world Jesus described.  There was no hierarchy of religious leaders, no pecking order as to who was closest to God.  There was never any discussion of the church and the representatives of the church acquiring property, wealth, power or status within the institutional religion.

Quite the contrary, Jesus encouraged everyone of any or no faith to speak directly to the Father, to acknowledge the perfect love of the Father in creating us, and to recognize Jesus came to give us a path to eternal salvation.

That path would lead to the Holy Spirit coming to help us as happened to the Apostles and Magdalene at the Ascension of Jesus.  If we recognized the love of the Father, and followed the path Jesus showed us in order to live the will of the Father, we would once again become One with the Creator.

The “priests” Jesus recruited were married and single.  His disciples were men and women.  No massive cathedrals or monasteries were needed to find God and no religious hierarchy stood between you and the Father.

Now, do you really think God would create all that is to us, including you and me, then give us a free will and soul, and billions of years later turn his back on us?  I mean, he even sacrificed His Son for us to help awaken us to remember the path to redemption and salvation.

Maybe if we were not so busy trying to play God in our everyday lives and cultures and even in our religions, things might be quite different.

Maybe if we demonstrated our Faith in the Father and Son by living a life of love, joy and compassion as Jesus advised, perhaps the Dark Side might not have so easily confused us and been able to snatch control of our souls and make humans carry out the sordid acts of the Dark Side.

Make no mistake, evil is running rampant because we are losing the anchor of Faith in the “Father’s Will.”  Our fear empowers the Dark Side.  Only by taking back that power can we defeat the Darkness we manifested in the first place.  That is through Faith.

Finally, do you think an all-powerful, all-loving God would abandon you in your hour of need?

Jesus said to pray to the Father, or pray to the Father through him.  The Holy Mother Mary said pray to God through the Rosary for the good of all God’s creation.  The Magdalene and Apostles spread the same message after receiving the Holy Spirit at the Ascension of Jesus.

To find Grace you must have Faith.

When you regain the Faith you have lost, as the potential is always within you, you will remember and know.  At any moment the Father can act through miracles or whatever else it might take, Divine power and intervention, to fix the mistakes of mankind and our misuse of free will.

Pray for divine intervention to heal the earth and the people.  Pray that our world leaders will help fix the problems of the world.  Pray that those who lost their souls to the Dark Side and spread hatred and fear can escape the clutches of the Dark Side.

Pray thanks to the Father for the opportunity to live his Will --- then live with joy, forgive with compassion, and always remember, this lifetime is but another test and step toward eternal salvation.

CPT Spirits in the Sky - Marilyn Monroe - A Tribute and a Challenge - "a small girl in a big world trying to find someone to love."

Marilyn Monroe born Norma Jeane Mortenson
June 1, 1926 – August 5, 1962

It has been 92 years since the most beautiful woman in the world was born, and 56 years since her life was cut short at much to early an age, just 36 years old.  Today she remains nearly as popular as when she was in her prime, and in nations like China she remains the number one Hollywood icon. She was a breath of fresh air in a time the world needed to recover from World War II.

Candle in the Wind

Goodbye Norma JeanThough I never knew you at allYou had the grace to hold yourselfWhile those around you crawledThey crawled out of the woodworkAnd they whispered into your brainThey set you on the treadmillAnd they made you change your name
chorus:
And it seems to me you lived your lifeLike a candle in the windNever knowing who to cling toWhen the rain set inAnd I would have liked to have known youBut I was just a kidYour candle burned out long beforeYour legend ever did
Loneliness was toughThe toughest role you ever playedHollywood created a superstarAnd pain was the price you paidEven when you diedOh the press still hounded youAll the papers had to sayWas that Marilyn was found in the nude

 (repeat chorus)

Goodbye Norma JeanThough I never knew you at allYou had the grace to hold yourselfWhile those around you crawledGoodbye Norma JeanFrom the young man in the 22nd rowWho sees you as something more than sexualMore than just our Marilyn Monroe
(repeat chorus)

Music: Elton JohnLyrics: Bernie TaupinPiano and Vocals: Elton John

 

Who done it?  You Solve the Mysterious murder of Marilyn Monroe

You help solve the mystery of who killed the most famous Hollywood icon of the 20th Century.  When the world awakened on August 5, 1962, the most celebrated actress in Hollywood, Marilyn Monroe, was found dead in her home in California at the young age of 36.

It was the end of a tumultuous and meteoric rise from rags to riches for America's sweetheart and Hollywood icon whose name crossed paths with the rich, the powerful, the revered and the most sinister characters in the world.

The medical examiner quickly concluded she died of an overdose of prescription medicine but forensic evidence was insufficient to declare it a suicide so her death was labeled as "probable suicide".

The mishandling of the crime scene, the manipulation of evidence, the inconsistency or her actions prior to the death and the onslaught of media hype pushing the suicide theory by powerful forces triggered a firestorm of suspicion and doubt.

But a series of national and international events the next 15 months would bury her story in the avalanche of media coverage of the Cold War with the Soviets, the Kennedy administration war with the La Casa Nostra, the evolving Vietnam war and the Kennedy assassination.

  

For the past 56 years the American public has been brainwashed with stories of the addictions and depression of film legend Marilyn Monroe that led to her death by suicide.  She has been pictured as an insecure and fragile girl whose mother was sent to an insane asylum as Marilyn was bounced from foster home to foster home to orphanage.

In fact, according to Marilyn she was sent to ten total places, foster homes and the orphanage, before she married a merchant marine when she turned 16 to avoid being sent back to the orphanage.  Because of her shuffling between homes she attended 6 different elementary schools in seven years.

But the vast majority of her experiences were good, she got along well with other children and often created games for her friends to play.  It was during this period she developed her desire to be a star and began to create the persona she believed she needed to be successful.

Her first marriage lasted about 4 years, 1942-1946, although her husband was  away during most of World War II.  She was working in an armament factory toward the end of the war when she was discovered at an assembly line by a photographer searching for the next pin up queen for the soldiers.

By 1946 Norma Jean first began using the name Marilyn Monroe when her popularity as a pin up queen got the notice of movie studios.  Marilyn had already begun singing and dancing lessons and had developed exceptional fitness and diet routines on her own, routines that would result in her being known as the most beautiful woman in the world.

At first it was her voice that got recognized although she did not get along with the movie tyrant Darryl Zanuck, head of 20th Century Fox, her studio most of her short career.  Many of her early film roles were uncredited, even when performing songs, a way the studio could avoid paying performance fees to actors.

Marilyn seemed to know what was expected of Hollywood stars in the golden age of film and she gave the studio what it wanted.  She quickly grew from a $125.00 a week extra to singing and then acting roles as she became more popular but as did most studios at the time, she was treated as a commodity.

In 1952 and 1953 her film roles pushed her to the top of the list in popularity but her studio handlers still insisted she play the dumb blond in comedies and though her films made more money than those of Elizabeth Taylor, Monroe was paid $100,000 per film compared to Taylor at $1 million per film.

From this point on the supposedly dumb blond pulled turned the movie industry upside down and eventually would force the studios to give her challenging dramatic roles like she wanted along with a salary equal to Elizabeth Taylor.

While she would be known as Marilyn Monroe from the late 1940's on she did not have her name legally changed from Norma Jean Mortensen to Marilyn Monroe until 1956.

As for the mystery of her death, by 1953 she was already acquainted with several people on the list of suspects or collaborators whose connections to others on the list in the immediate future would result in her becoming a serious threat to their careers and would endanger her life.

Probable Suspects, Collaborators and Contributors

Frank Costello, Joseph Kennedy partner and New York mobster

Sam Giancana, Chicago, Miami and Los Angeles mob boss

Joseph Kennedy, patriarch of Kennedy family

John F. Kennedy, former president
Jackie Kennedy, wife to JFK

Robert Kennedy, former attorney general

Peter Lawford, Kennedy in law

Arthur Miller, former husband to Marilyn

Santo Trafficante, Jr., Florida mob boss

Ralph Greenson, Marilyn psychiatrist

Eunice Murray, Marilyn housekeeper

Can you guess who did it???.